WIARTON, ONT.—For Canadian gold medal hopeful Mary Spencer, the road to the 2012 London Olympics runs right through the Cape Croker Indian Reserve.

The three-time world champion, in heavy training for the Olympic debut of women’s boxing next summer, somehow finds the time to drive 10 hours here and back from Windsor — at least once a month — to hang out with “her kids” on the reserve.

On a recent visit, one perfect summer’s day, Spencer and the native children she mentors go out for a run, paddle canoes, play volleyball and tuck into a barbecue together. It’s as though Christmas has come early to Cape Croker, and not just because the champ has brought four cartons of new boxing gear.

From the moment she arrives, Spencer draws the kids like a magnet. They crowd around, vying for attention, peals of laughter echoing along the shores of Georgian Bay. The youngest literally hang off her as they splash in the water.

“I’m a leech!” cries Breanna Watkinson, who attaches herself to Spencer during a swim. But they all seem to get some quiet time with her, too, teens and younger ones alike, including 8-year-old Halle Johnston, who skips rocks with Spencer as they wait for the canoeing to commence.

The visits have an extra meaning for Spencer because her father, Cliff, who is Ojibway, was a United Church minister at Cape Croker when Mary was younger.

“I feel like this is my own version of it, that I can come out and hang out with the kids and be there for them if they need advice or show them stuff, teach them stuff,” she says. “It’s almost the same thing. That’s the way I kind of see it, a ministry of sorts.”

A ministry it may be, but there is no preaching. Mary has an easy rapport with the children, many of whom she’s known for years.

“Do you ever swear?” Daisy Jones asks as they come out of the water.

“No,” says Spencer

“I don’t believe you,” says Jones. “You said the word sh-ts.”

“That’s because you guys were trying to drown me,” laughs Spencer.

While the visits are exhausting — for all involved — Spencer says she easily gets back just as much as she gives. Spending time at the reserve replenishes her spirit in a way little else can.

“I think about when I was a kid . . . little things that somebody probably didn’t think would make a big impression on me, but it did,” she said. “So, I’m hoping these are the kinds of days that these kids are going to remember. . . . They’re having a lot of fun while doing things that are good for them.”

Spencer says her obvious bond with the young ones here comes naturally.

“Coming back to Cape Croker is special for me just because some of these kids are my cousins, their parents knew my parents or know me. I feel like I’m at home when I’m here.”

It’s all a far cry from Spencer in the ring, a fearsome opponent who has been known to send a message with more than her fists. She won her third world title by dismantling reigning world champion Jinzi Li of China last fall in the Barbados 14-2 in the final — a feat made more impressive by the fact she moved up in weight class from 66 to 75 kilos, because there are only three women’s Olympic divisions.

Rather than go out and celebrate, Spencer had a plan. She made sure she woke up first thing the next morning to go for a run around the hotel complex where the athletes were staying, hoping opponents would see her.

“My whole reasoning for that is, I want them when they get in the ring with me to be okay with losing to me, to be okay with giving up when they should be pushing harder,” she told the Star at the time. “I want them to think I’m supposed to win.”

To the other boxers, Spencer is simply the reigning world champ and the one to beat. But there is another part of her identity she would like the world to know about.

“I remember every time I used to represent a native team, whether it was a basketball team or a volleyball team, there was just that sense of pride,” she says. “I think other native athletes need to feel that sense of pride when they see me competing, the same way other Canadians do. There should be something special for aboriginal Canadians.”

That something special is evident to 8-year-old Halle, who was on the receiving end of the pep talk about bullies at school. What’s so special about the boxer’s visits to Cape Croker?

“She’s fun, she’s cool and she’s awesome,” says Halle.

Jennifer Johnston, Halle’s mom, says what Spencer provides, apart from the laughs and chats, is inspiration.

“The kids really love her. I see a huge difference in the kids that do go. She’s a good inspiration to the children here. They look forward to having her,” she says. “Every month, they make sure they ask when she’s coming and they’re waiting for her, they’re waiting at the door with open arms and great big ‘I love you’s.’ ”

The boxer is slowly drawing more kids out to the group. On this day, 5-year-old Madeline Linklater turns up because she wants to meet Spencer after seeing her featured on TSN. She shyly hands Spencer a note and picture she has made in a handmade envelope. It wishes her good luck at the Olympics and shows a podium with a medal and boxing gloves.

Spencer keeps it real with the kids with an easy laugh and a self-deprecating sense of humour. They talk about anything and everything.

Some of the kids struggle with motivation and get into trouble, something that Spencer can definitely relate to having grown up in a housing project in Windsor. She’s reluctant to delve into her misspent youth too deeply, but admits she skipped more classes than she ever attended and even failed gym.

Her transformation happened the moment she stepped into a boxing ring.

“Boxing for me was almost supernatural,” she said. “I started boxing and it was like ‘Okay, this is what you’re going to do and you’re going to make sure you become a champion.’ Day one, I wanted to be a champion. I was serious about being a champion.

“Some things took time to change, like my group of friends. That took a bit of time. . . . If you’re doing something right, other things just won’t mix with it. Eventually things just turned around.”

It’s a powerful story, one that takes on more resonance for the kids here as they realize she is just like them. They are following her every step of the way, and recently went to watch her fight in Wasaga Beach. The community has started talking about trying to raise money to send some of the children to the London Olympics, although they say it’s unlikely to happen.

But the kids will be in London, anyway, just as they were in Barbados when Spencer went up against the reigning world champion from China.

“As I was walking up to the ring, I was imagining that these kids were in the stands, that they were watching this fight and I needed to win because they needed to see me win, they needed to know that I was going to win,” Spencer says.

“It just carries that extra weight when you’re trying to reach out to someone or trying to do something. . . . I remember thinking about them going into that final, so of course it fuels the fire.”

As this day draws to a close, Spencer reluctantly pulls herself away from “her kids.” After they’ve all jumped off a concrete pier into the cool waters of Georgian Bay, the fighter prepares for the five-hour-plus drive back home to Windsor.

The young ones and teens, exhausted after being put through their paces, are loathe to see her go.

But they know she’ll be back.

MARY SPENCER

Born Dec. 12, 1984, Wiarton, Ont.

Hometown: Windsor

Coach: Charlie Stewart, Windsor Amateur Boxing Club

IN THE RING

108 wins, seven losses

2005-08 66 kg world champion

2010 75 kg world champion

Eight-time Canadian champion

Five-time North American champion

2004 Canadian boxer of the year

OUTSIDE THE RING

Along with mentoring kids at Cape Croker, she’s president of the Boys and Girls Club of Windsor, which gets together once a week.

QUOTE

“I don’t feel pressure at all (to win Olympic gold), because I told myself I was going to do it a long time ago. The fact that other people think now I’m going to do it, that’s support, not pressure.”

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